1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to composite laminates and uses thereof in articles in need of protection from mechanical damage and water or oxygen based degradation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chemical and allied industries have used composite laminates to protect articles sensitive to degradation from degradation-causing conditions. Examples of degradation-causing conditions are exposure to one or more of ultraviolet light; elevated temperatures; atmospheres containing water, oxygen, or both; and mechanical damage. Examples of the sensitive articles needing such protection are electronic devices, including light emitting diodes and photovoltaic cells and modules, which are especially vulnerable when exposed to weather elements such as, for example, hail, wind, rain, and snow. For example, mechanical damage to photovoltaic cells and modules can occur during their manufacture, transportation, installation, and use (e.g., resulting from hail impact, wind, and snow loads). Exposure of photovoltaic cells and modules to moisture and oxygen can corrode metal contacts and interconnects and, for thin-film photovoltaic cells and modules, degrade transparent conductive oxide layers thereof.
In their quest for new composite laminates, skilled artisans have tried many types of materials and constructions thereof from among the vast number and variety of materials and constructions already known to man for forming composite laminates therewith. The skilled artisan must conduct numerous tests on the would-be composite laminates in order to determine whether or not they have desirable properties (e.g., gas or vapor barrier properties and impact resistance) and, hopefully, other important functional properties. Skilled artisans have been overwhelmed by a vast number of choices and property requirements within the field of composite laminates, which makes creating improved composite laminates an unwieldy and unpredictable task.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,815,070 B1 mentions, among other things, a glass-plastic composite film. The glass-plastic composite film consists of a glass film that is between 10 micrometers (μm) and 500 μm thick and a polymer layer with a thickness of between 1 μl and 200 μm, which is applied directly to at least one of the side faces of said film and in that at least one side on the surface of the film has a waviness of less than 100 nanometers (nm) and a roughness RT<30 nm. U.S. Pat. No. 6,815,070 B1 mentions a bewildering number of choices and fails to teach or suggest a glass-plastic composite film having an improved combination of mechanical damage-resistance and water- or oxygen-barrier properties.
In another example, International Patent Application Publication Number WO 2005/110741 A1 mentions, among other things, a process for preparing a composite layered structure comprising a virgin contact-free glass film and a polymer film adhered to the virgin contact-free glass film, the process comprising melting and drawing an inorganic glass material to form a virgin contact-free solid glass film, and applying a polymer film on at least one side of the virgin contact-free glass film. WO 2005/110741 A1 also mentions, among other things, a composite layered material suitable for use in optical display systems comprising a monolithic glass film and a polymer film adhered to at least one side of the glass film, where the glass film has a thickness of less than 20 μm. WO 2005/110741 A1 also mentions, among other things, use of the composite layered material as a barrier layer in optical display systems. WO 2005/110741 A1 also mentions a bewildering number of choices and fails to teach or suggest a composite layered material having an improved combination of mechanical damage-resistance and water- or oxygen-barrier properties.
In still another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,608 mentions, among other things, a thermoplastic interlayer film. Examples 3 and 4 mention rigid glass-polymer film-glass laminates where the glass layers are 3 millimeters thick each and the polymer film can be prepared with a mixture of a polyolefin and vinyltrimethoxysilane or aminopropyltriethoxysilane coupling agent.
In still another example, WO 2008/036222 mentions, among other things, transparent compositions and laminates. Examples mention rigid glass-polymer film-glass laminates where the glass layers are 3 millimeters thick each and the polymer film can be prepared with certain silane-grafted polyolefins.